The Lifetime movie “From Straight As to XXX” aired Saturday, and pretty much no one cared. It was based on the real life story of Miriam Weeks, porn star “Belle Knox,” who is a Duke University student and gained 20-minutes of fame for turning to porn to pay her tuition. Most people have forgotten about Belle. She was not a big porn star, and so after the story of her Blue Devil background broke, she returned to relative obscurity and retired from porn. General Hospital actress Haley Pullos stars as Weeks in the movie, and that’s probably its only redeeming value to anyone. When Haley was asked why anyone would care to watch the movie, she said, “This movie is so important because it shows you the depth and the hardship of being hated simply for making a decision for your own life, and I think everybody needs to understand that that is the message. [What she did] was legal. It was fully legal. It’s not like she did anything legally wrong. You might have different morals, and that’s okay, that’s your own decision with your own life, but this woman made a legal decision with her own life. That’s her choice and she shouldn’t have been harassed the way that she was, and that’s why I think it’s important.” In a separate interview, she said about why she decided to play the role, “I’m a huge feminist and so I’m all about women empowerment and being able to make your own choices and that’s what I feel like this whole movie focuses on. Miriam was just terrorized and abused by everybody for making her own choice and I wanted to be able to tell that story because it’s so heavy and important.” Well, we pay moderate tribute to Miriam empowering herself.

A Duke University study, published online in the journal of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, recently showed that sex, or more particularly the hormone released during sex, can make men more religious. As part of the study, men were given the hormone Oxtocin, which is stimulated in sex, while others received a placebo. The men who received Oxytocin were more likely to say that spirituality was an important part of their lives, regardless whether they had previously stated that spirituality or faith played a part or not. The men also said that they would be more likely to see themselves as “interconnection with other people and living things,” according to the study. And that is the power of pussy.

In her own words, research assistant, Professor Dr. Patty Van Cappellen said, “Spirituality and meditation have each been linked to health and well-being in previous research. We were interested in understanding biological factors that may enhance those spiritual experiences. Oxytocin appears to be part of the way our bodies support spiritual beliefs.” The study only examined men, so it is unclear the effects the hormone has on women. Patty added, “Oxytocin’s effects on women’s spirituality still needs to be investigated.”

Belle Knox recently penned an op-ed piece for Time Magazine, and we were forced to listen and report on what she said, because, well, Belle is the porn-it-girl, even if she really hasn’t the foggiest idea about economics or the nation’s education cost crisis. But because she is a popular porn star, apparently, experience or knowledge about the economy doesn’t really matter. Belle, as she has deftly done in the last several months, has taken her fame from being a Duke University student and porn star, and made it work, asking in the first line of her piece, “Instead of focusing on my decision to perform in porn to pay my tuition, let’s start paying attention to what got me here: artificially inflated demand for college that pushes tuition sky high.” And in some parts she makes a good point, challenging Congress and the President’s agenda to educate the nation and provide funds for all students (not just the porn star ones) to achieve their dreams, saying “Government must stop the flow of money to schools in order to get tuition rates under control again. That means being honest about the fact that not every child should go to college.” And in part that’s true, and she backs it up by saying “Only 59% of full-time, first-time undergraduate students who began their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree at a 4-year degree-granting institution graduate in four years.” Belle, obviously wasn’t trying to score points among her peers.

For the most part, the pithy op-ed piece is comprised of Belle complaining about her own circumstance, for instance, losing $13,000 of financial aid because of the substantial money she now makes in porn. Belle explains, “To make matters worse, my income now makes me ineligible for the $13,000 in aid I was receiving. My bill for next year will be a staggering $62,000. And I will pay this all on my own; the financial aid office does not care that I am legally financially independent. They view it as my parent’s responsibility to foot the bill.” We love an i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t woman, though maybe not one so whiney.

To nail down the point that she may be far out of her element, Belle makes an analogy between porn and education (with a bit of econ terms you could find on the Internet), saying “my porn work pays the exorbitant tab for one simple reason: Demand for porn actresses, especially extremely young ones like myself, far exceeds supply. How interesting that the same basic principle explains why my tuition bill is so high in the first place. Demand for education, kind of like demand for porn, is pretty inelastic. Kids like me have been told our whole lives that higher education is the only way to be successful in America. … Colleges today have zero incentive to lower tuition or make college more affordable. Either way, demand is high and the money will keep flowing. So why bother with thrift?” We’re not saying Belle didn’t make a few points to give us pause, but on the whole, we’re going to take or econ lessons from those with degrees, and we’ll take our porn cues from the now unstoppable porn queen.

Belle Knox is the story that will never die. She sat down with BangBros to talk about her experiences being outed as a Duke University student and porn star. Apparently Belle has achieved an almost immortal status and we’ll be reporting her every appearance for some time. More power to her….

Belle Knox is that lovable but now mildly annoying Duke freshman porn star who has been the center of a porn and feminism discussion, as well as privacy, porn shaming, the ridiculous costs of college and the things girls do to pay their way through college. Stripping was one that was obvious, porn less so obvious, at least among prestigious private universities in the south. Belle made it acceptable, for some, to be a porn star and a stripper to pay for college. She has a growing legion of inspired new college adult entertainers, or so they say. Belle is now inspiring a new trend, one we’re not on board with, selling your used panties online. Belle recently set a record for GingerLynnAuctions.com on Sunday, by selling a pair of her used panties to some guy (we assume) for $520.

Site owner and former porn star Ginger Lynn was pleased. “I created the website for women in the adult industry just like Belle, simply as a way for them to sell personal items to their fans,” she said. “I’m so excited that the site is contributing in such a big way to help finance Belle’s college education.” GingerLynnAuctions is a treasure trove of porn star auction material, but used panties are top of the list. Ginger explained her used porn star panty imporium, saying “My goal has always been to support the women in the adult industry in any way I can. It’s why the site is completely free to them and their fans. For me, it’s a labor of love, and a way to give back. I’m proud that it’s helped Belle continue to raise money for her education.” Let’s hope this trend does not grow.

Porn star Belle Knox, also a student at Duke University, has been on the interview circuit since she was outed by a classmate. You’ve probably heard the news. Here’s a clip from one of her interviews replayed by Jimmy Kimmel.